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Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000
What is the difference between the BizTalk Initiative,
the BizTalk Framework, and the BizTalk Server?
The BizTalk Initiative represents the set of collective
investments that Microsoft is making in order to promote the
adoption of XML as an effective, open mechanism for
integrating applications and business processes.
These investments are organized into three categories: a framework,
industry
efforts, and products.
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What is the BizTalk Framework?
The BizTalk Framework provides an open design framework for
implementing an Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema and a
set of XML tags used in messages sent between applications.
Microsoft and other organizations are using the BizTalk
Framework to produce consistent XML-based BizTalk document
schemas to enable integration between business systems,
independent of operating system, programming model, or
programming language.
For more information visit the BizTalk site.
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What are the investments that Microsoft is making in
industry efforts?
There are three primary activities targeted for the
adoption of XML as an open, interoperable mechanism for
integrating applications and business processes within and
between organizations.
- BizTalk.org provides a Web-based community that allows
organizations to learn about XML and BizTalk, collaborate
through newsgroups and other public forums, and get access
to training and other valuable resources. This community is
hosted at http://www.biztalk.org/,
and is freely accessible to anyone over the Internet. This
site supports community efforts by documentation and
reference materials, training, and online discussion groups.
- BizTalk.org hosts a public library to share and store
BizTalk document schemas. This library allows organizations
to find and reuse business document schemas that are
valuable to them, as well as upload their own schemas for
use across a set of partners or trading community. This
library provides important discovery and reuse facilities,
as well as a mechanism to send notifications after a change
or deletion. For example, you can visit the site and search
for all schemas that have been submitted to the library
within a given industry, by a given company, or that
contains a given keyword. You can then decide which schemas,
if any, you want to use. Further, you can register your use
of those schemas, in order to receive automatic notification
when the submitting organization makes updates or
replacements.
- The BizTalk steering committee, composed of
industry-leading vendors, standards bodies and corporate
customers, provides guidance on the future direction of the
BizTalk Framework and includes American Petroleum Institute,
Ariba Inc., The Baan Co., The Boeing Co., Clarus Corp.,
Commerce One Inc., Compaq Computer Corp., Concur
Technologies Inc., Data Interchange Standards Association
(DISA), Dell Computer Corp., EXE Technologies Inc.,
Extensibility Inc., Extricity Software Inc., Ford Motor Co.,
GE Information Services (GEIS), Harbinger Corp., i2
Technologies Inc., Intelisys Electronic Commerce Inc., J.D.
Edwards & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., Microsoft
Corp., New Era of Networks (NEON), Open Applications Group
(OAG), PeopleSoft Inc., Pivotal Software Inc., Reuters,
RosettaNet and SAP AG, Siebel Systems Inc., Sterling
Commerce Inc., United Parcel Service, U.S. Department of
Defense, and webMethods Inc.
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What is BizTalk Server 2000?
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 provides the tools and
infrastructure that businesses require to automate, integrate,
and manage business processes. The integration of business
applications within and between businesses or across
organizational boundaries is made possible, regardless of the
platforms and operating systems used. BizTalk Server 2000 is
based on standards. Combining standards with a loosely coupled
approach to solving application-integration challenges,
BizTalk Server 2000 facilitates the creation of new business
communities that bring together "best-of-breed" processes from
Web sites; line-of-business (LOB) solutions including
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems such as SAP, JD
Edwards, and Baan; host-based systems; and custom-built
solutions.
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What is the status of BizTalk Server 2000 today?
The BizTalk
Server Enterprise 2000 Beta is currently available for
download or to order the kit which includes all the necessary
components on CD. General availability of BizTalk Server 2000
will be in the fall.
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What is the BizTalk Jumpstart Kit?
The BizTalk Jumpstart Kit is designed to aid developers in
the immediate creation of BizTalk Server-compatible software
applications. The BizTalk Jumpstart Kit makes it easier for
developers to use Extensible Markup Language (XML) schemas and
the BizTalk Framework in current development projects, and to
realize the benefits of industry-standard XML for electronic
commerce and application integration within and across
organizations.
The BizTalk Jumpstart Kit is now known as the BizTalk
Server SDK.
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